The present invention relates to the construction of thoroughfares such as roads, cycle tracks, walkways, etc. or the manufacture of safety and/or marking elements related to thoroughfares, such as concrete crash barriers, curbs of pedestrian pavements, marking bollards, etc. which possess enhanced reflective properties.
It relates more particularly to a composition for thoroughfare pavements or for related safety and/or marking elements allowing such properties to be obtained.
It also relates to the thoroughfare pavements and the related safety and/or marking elements obtained from these compositions.
Safety, particularly road safety, is a fundamental issue; certain thoroughfares or parts of thoroughfares, or elements that mark out or protect specific areas, must be clearly visible in order to draw the attention of a user, be he a motor-vehicle driver, cyclist or pedestrian, to a possible danger or merely just to guide him.
In order to distinguish between thoroughfares, it is general practice to exploit the various colours that can be obtained depending on the types of surface (bitumen, concrete, etc.) or the possibility of giving the surface a lighter appearance by the use of a particular aggregate, especially light-coloured chippings.
In the field of markings, particularly road markings, reflective paints or marking bands which contain glass microspheres are known.
It has also been proposed to incorporate glass microspheres into road pavements.
These microspheres must have specific characteristics, especially light-reflection characteristics, and must have, for example, a defined shape in order for light, such as that coming from motor-vehicle headlights, to be reflected satisfactorily.
These microspheres thus have to be manufactured using expensive specific processes, which limits their applications, in particular to small areas.
It has also been proposed to use recovered glass of the bottle type to construct road pavements, by incorporating it into the surface using compactor rollers after the construction proper of the pavement while it is still soft.
However, the glass debris thus applied does not allow satisfactory reflective properties to be achieved, particularly in very poorly lit areas.
In addition, there is a high risk of it being broken up,by the traffic and scattered in places where it can no longer produce the reflection effect.